Repotting

Look at this! The smaller money tree I cut back (here) has new growth! So exciting*. (Whooooo, I didn’t kill it!)

The newest money tree, that I bought a few weeks ago, was looking a little droopy. Growers often tie the bottom trunks together when they braid the trees and, as the plant grows, the rubber band/wire/twine starts cutting into the wood. 

Sure enough, once the soil was washed off you could see the damage. 

Cut and removed the rubber bands under the soil and the wire garbage ties around the branches, repotted it in fresh soil with a clear pot and put it back under the grow light. 

It measures 14” from top of the pot to the highest branch. Wonder how much it will grow in a month…

As long as I had everything out… the smaller anthurium had a couple of leaves that were turning brown. Research said it could be the soil, so I trimmed off the worst leaf and rinsed off the old dirt.

Turns out most of the root ball was constricted by a papery net growers use to start new plants. It’s supposed to decompose but hadn’t this time. Pulled it apart with tweezers, rinsed and untangled the roots before finishing the repot. It looks so shiny and happy.

The soil around the Pink Quill was retaining too much water, so it got a quick root rinse and some fresh chunky soil. 

Look at those little spidery roots. Guess you don’t need much root-wise if you’re growing on a tree or rock in the jungle. 

* I’ve always enjoyed having plants but it was a ‘stick them in a pot and hope they survive’ kinda thing. Most of the time they didn’t. Having access to so many how-to videos on the interwebs has been eye opening. Kinda excited to see if I can keep these not just alive but flourishing. 

Double Up #2

March’s second Birdwatchers pattern, a Cerulean Warbler, is done. There’s a slight oopsie but I decided it “adds to the character” so I’m leaving it. (Can you spot it?) Still two birds behind but April’s pattern is cut, color-coded and ready to sew. 

10.5 x 10.5”

Also finished Wildflowers #15. Only one more to go before it’s time to trim the blocks and start on the sashing. 

10.5 x 10

Very happy with the progress. 

True Confessions

Confession time - I’ve gotten hooked on Instagram reels. Up til now, I’ve ignored reels on every platform. You want my attention? Put it in writing, I’d rather read about it. But Insta’s how-to reels roped me right in. 

First it was quilts… then plants… wood furniture finishing (fascinating to watch but I don’t want to actually do it)… and now it’s… silver polishing. 

Comparison halfway thru cleaning

Over the years, hubby has brought home a collection of mostly* silver-plated items from flea markets, swap meets and such. I remember silver cleaning as very labor intensive, so wasn’t real keen on fixing them up.

Until I saw a couple of reels that made it look easy! and fun!

This was in rough shape

According to experts, the easy and fun method was more likely to damage the silver than clean it, but by then I was hooked. 

Trademark ‘Chippendale’ ‘6364’

A couple of evenings, a bit of elbow grease (ok, a lot of elbow grease) and voila! Look how pretty and shiny they are!

My favorite is this Chippendale Silent Butler, circa 1980. 

But a close second is the filigree on this tray. So pretty. Now I’m hoping he finds more silver treasure to bring home.

* I say ‘mostly’ because 2 serving spoons in his collection turned out to be sterling silver. Score!

Descanso Gardens

We met up with hubby’s sister and BIL for lunch 

(Black Cow Cafe in Montrose - so good!!)

then headed to Descanso Gardens for a walk-about.

Temps were almost perfect - 

it got a little too warm as we were leaving - 

and the flowers were gorgeous as always. 

We’d hoped to see tulips and other spring flowers, 

but they must have bloomed earlier,

so we had to make do with lilacs, camellias and irises (irisi?). 

Lilacs and iris are some of my favorites so no complaints from me.

I picked up a tiny succulent (and a kitty-shaped pot) 

that Marie says is a Tiger Kalanchoe (cal-en-co-ee). So unusual!

Double Up

The next Birdwatchers Project pattern comes out Thursday, so I was motivated to get one finished so I’d be (almost) caught up.

This is the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, one of 2 patterns released in March. Fast, easy pattern except for that tiny black bill. I sewed and ripped and sewed again at least 8 times trying to get the edges to align. Finally accepted that this was as close as I was going to get before the fabric frayed apart. The second March pattern - Cerulean Warbler - is cut, folded, color-coded and ready to sew, hopefully tomorrow.

Also finished Wildflower #14 tonight. TV marathons are really good for getting projects done. 

Here’s the first 13 blocks, in no particular order. I’ll square these up before adding a slightly different blue for sashing. Getting close to done!

Hoppy Easter

We had a relaxing Easter, complete with homemade tacos, Mexican rice and deviled eggs for dinner. Miss having the grands here, especially egg hunts and raiding their candy baskets. They were usually pretty good about sharing candy they didn’t like or things they knew were our favorites. (I need to go find Reese’s peanut butter eggs before they disappear…) From Idaho -

and S. Carolina.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

100 Days - Newcomer

I don’t think Cyrus has officially joined the 100 Days challenge but she sent me this pic of her freshly finished pomegranate. Gorgeous! I’m envious of people who can do counted cross stitch, especially at this tiny-stitch level. I’ve tried, it’s just not in my skill set. 

Rachel is ready to do the borders on her project. I’m wondering what she’s going to work on next since we still have lots of Days until we hit 100 in June. 

Wildflower #13 is done! And thanks to a new bingable tv series (Tracker) #14 is almost halfway finished too.